Plymouth girl asked me for sex, says Devonport Park rape accused

A MAN accused of raping a drunken schoolgirl in a park has told a court she asked him for sex.

Craig Goldstone, 28, said the girl was not "paralytic" as she had told the jury earlier in the trial.

Goldstone admitted lying to police in interview when he initially claimed he had not met the girl in Devonport Park.

The father-of-four said he did not want his girlfriend to know he had sex with a stranger.

Goldstone denies raping the girl on July 5 last year.

And he told the court it was due to his Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder that he escaped through an unlocked door when left alone at Charles Cross police station.

Goldstone was agitated on the witness stand, crying at times, fidgeting and swivelling on his chair.

Judge Graham Cottle also told him to mind his language because he kept swearing.

Goldstone said he was walking his dog in Devonport Park on that Thursday evening when he met two girls drinking from a large bottle of cider.

He said the younger girl started playing with his Staffordshire bull terrier.

Goldstone said the older girl left and the teenager asked him for sex as they sat on the grass.

He added they had sex and afterwards he walked her to the edge of the park and left.

The jury had earlier heard from the girl that she was "paralytic" and "half-asleep" when she was dragged into bushes and raped.

Goldstone said she was "five or six" on a scale of drunkenness from one to ten.

He added: "I am not a violent man. If I had dragged her into bushes, my dog would have bitten me."

Goldstone admitted lying to the police in interview when he repeatedly claimed he had not met the girl. He said: "I did not want my missus to find out. I have been with my missus for nine years."

Goldstone admitted he hid from police under a bed at the nearby Salvation Army hostel where he was staying. He said he was worried they would find his drugs.

Goldstone was asked by his barrister Ali Rafati why he had left Charles Cross police station on the morning of Saturday July 7.

The court has heard he walked out of an unlocked door while waiting to take part in a video identification parade.

He added: "That was my ADHD. I think it was this lady here (officer in the case DC Yvette Rundle), she said wait here and she has gone into a room, there is a door there and a voice said 'go' and that is what I have done.

"If I have a chance to run and my head is telling me, then I am going. I am sorry I went."

Judge Cottle is due to sum up the case today and the jury is expected to retire to consider its verdict.